


Home

by whatthatmouthdo



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 01:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12877269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatthatmouthdo/pseuds/whatthatmouthdo
Summary: Takes place after season 2. Eleven sits in the cabin and thinks about the idea of home and what it means to her.Major Mileven fluff at end :)





	Home

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Stranger Things fanfic. I love mike and eleven, they are my inspiration so I will be writing more about them! They are the cutest!
> 
> I thought the theme of "home" was reoccurring especially with Eleven, so I had to write this little piece. I hope I did half decent.  
> Hope you guys like it! Please leave thoughts or comments if you want!

Home. 

What is home? 

So many people have said that to me. This could be your home, Eleven. This could be your new home. 

Hopper said it to me when we were fixing up the cabin. He said it could be my home. I didn’t really understand what he meant then. I don't understand a lot of things that people say to me, to be honest. 

I am at the cabin right now, of course. It is a cold February day, Hopper is at work and all my friends are at school. So, I am here watching my soaps like I always am until Hopper comes home or until Mike is done with school and I can find him in the Void. Hopper says I still have to "lay low" for at least a year until I can go out in public again. I am done arguing with Hopper when it comes to my freedom. I know that Hopper wants the best for me and as long as I have some sort of contact with Mike, I can wait. Mike had Hopper give me a walkie so I can talk to Mike every night before I go to bed which is the highlight of my day of course. So really, what's another 365 days?  
I do believe that the cabin is my home. I love my room and I love how warm the cabin always is. I don’t even mind the size. I like that it is small and that it is for Hopper and I. To me, it is the perfect size. The only thing I don’t exactly like about it is the location. I hate being isolated sometimes, considering I have been isolated for more than half of my life. I understand that it is necessary to remain hidden but I can't wait for the day where I live on a street with other kids and where cars pass by. I hope the day comes soon but I will miss the cabin because to me, it is home. 

Home. 

Although, I feel like the cabin isn't enough though. I feel like it lacks something. Yes, I love the cabin but I really only love it cause Hopper and I live in it. I think I would love any place that Hopper and I lived in as long as I was with Hopper. And as long as I have a tv. So, in a way Hopper is a home? Is my home? Is that possible? Can a person be a home? I don’t see why not. I wouldn’t want to live with anyone else. I go anywhere Hopper goes. So yeah, Hopper is a home. His hugs feel like home. Big, warm, tight, loving. I can't help but smile as I sit on the couch. I bet if I told Hopper that he is home he will smile that smile where his eyes squint and he looks wrinklier but so happy. He would probably give my head a nudge or pull me into a bear hug. Maybe I'll tell him that when he gets home. I think he would like that. 

 

  
Kali told me Chicago could be my home, that her and her friends could be my home. Another possible home. In the moment, when I was in Chicago, I think I was on the fence. Kali was still a new person to me even though I feel a connection to her I have never felt to anyone else before. Thinking back to it, if I never met Mike or the boys or Hopper, I think I would have a home in Chicago. There is a part of me that can fit in with Kali and her gang of friends. I know there is. I liked being powerful and strong and dressing older. I felt older and I didn’t feel like a delicate flower that doesn’t have a place in the world. I know that I could have found a home in Chicago with Kali. But...I did meet Mike and Lucas and Dustin and Hopper. And because of that I can never just kill the bad men. I can't because they have showed me goodness and love. 

In another life, Kali could be a home. But in this life, she is just a sister. 

 

This isn't the first time I have thought about home. I thought about it a lot when I was living in the woods before I found Hopper. 

I have never had a home. For all my life, the lab was the only place I knew, but it was a place I was trying to escape. The lab is the opposite of a home. The first time I heard the word home was with Mike. When we were in the bathroom together he said, 

"I'm glad you're home, El." 

I replayed that memory in my head a lot when I was alone in the woods. I played a lot of memories in my head. I had a lot of time to think and the main thing I thought about was Mike. I think, deep down, I always considered Mike to be a home. He took me into his house when he hardly knew me. He gave me blankets and a pillow and a place to be safe. I trusted Mike from the start and he unknowingly became a home to me. That's why I first went to his house when I escaped the Upside Down. All I could think was that Mike would hug me and give me warm clothes and be a home but I was wrong. Mike couldn’t be a home to me, at least, not in that moment. He had cops in his house and people asking questions. In that moment, staying away from Mike was the best thing to do which is the opposite of what I want. 

Staying away from Mike for 353 days was one of the worst things I've experienced. I know that must sound dramatic but it was emotionally painful to me. Watching him call me every day. Everyday. Asking where I was, if I was okay, to give a sign, any sign. And I couldn’t do anything. I want to run to him and I just want him to know that every time I don't, I almost do. I would feel this weird aching pain right in my chest, over my heart. I have never felt something like that before. Not until Mike. 

Not until Mike did I know what a home was. Mike was the first one to show me. 

A home is where you feel safe. A home is where you always want to be. A home is where you belong. 

When I finally saw Mike again at the Byer's house, I got that weird feeling again right in my chest, over my heart. I couldn’t believe I was seeing Mike. He was so much taller and skinner and older looking and his hair was longer. I couldn’t believe my eyes. My chest tightened so much, I thought I was going to burst but then he smiled at me and that's when the strongest feeling of want hit me. It consumed every part of me. I could feel it in my bones and blood and heart. 

After years of being alone and having nowhere to go, I finally knew. 

Mike Wheeler is my home. 

"El? Are you there?" 

Pulled out of my thoughts, I turn to the walkie beside me. 

"It's me Mike. I just got home from school and I had to hear your voice. Are you there?" 

I reach for the walkie, my heart full and eyes thick with tears. I try to clear my voice before I talk but I know that he will be able to hear the emotion in my voice no matter what. 

"Yes Mike, I'm here." I'm home.


End file.
